Title

Chocolate Melting!

Problem Scenario

I would like to find out what chocolate will melt faster.

Broad Question

What type of Chocolate melts faster?

Specific Question

What type of Chocolate melts faster, dark, milk, or white?

Hypothesis

I hypothesize that dark chocolate will melt faster, followed by milk and white chocolate.

Graph of Hypothesis


Variables

Independent Variable: Type\flavor of Chocolate

Dependent Variable: Melting of Chocolate

Variables That Need To Be Controlled: Type of pan used for melting, brand of chocolate used, materials\temperature

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

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General Plan

I will be doing my experiment in my kitchen at home. I will be taking a saucepan, putting a certain amount of water in it, in till it boils. Once when it starts to boil I will take the temperature, then put the bowl (that has the same amount of chocolate every trial) on top of the saucepan, at that time I will then start the timer. At the begging I will stir the chocolate just to get it moving, for around 7 seconds, then I will let it melt on it's own. When there are only a few chunks of chocolate left, I will stir until the chunks are completely melted, at that moment I will then stop the timer and record my data.

Potential Problems And Solutions

Maintain consistence temperature and determining exact moment of melting. Also that the water in the saucepan doesn't touch the bottom of the glass bowl. Trying to determine the simmering point of the water in the saucepan, and using a consistent temperature.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

Extra cautious when using the stove. Also working with hot materials.

Experimental Design

What is your experimental unit?

This is the base unit of your experiment, for example, one plant, one ice cube, one dish. It is the thing you will be measuring.

Number Of Trials:

I will be doing 5 trials.

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

For each trial, there will only be one subject that being the Chocolate.

Number of Observations:

The amount of time it took for each type of Chocolate to melt was recorded for each trial. 3 types of Chocolate times 5 trials, which equals 15 observations.

When data will be collected

I did my experiment on Monday, February 25, 2013

Where will data be collected?:

I will be doing my experiment in my kitchen, and recording the data in a notebook specifically for this experiment.

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
Lindt Classic Milk Chocolate 4.4 oz	3 bars	Lindt Store	$6.00
Lindt Classic White Chocolate 4.4 oz	3 bars	Lindt Store	$6.00
Lindt 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate 3.5 oz	3 bars	Lindt Store	$6.00
Instant read digital thermometer	1	Kitchen Store	$9.99
Digital scale	1	Already had it	$0.00
Glass Bowl 1.5 qt	1	Already had it	$0.00
Saucepan 1.5 qt	1	Already had it	$0.00
Measuring Cup	1	Already had it	$0.00

Detailed Procedure

1) Gather all materials
2) Get double boiler ready (saucepan & glass bowl)
3) Prepare chocolate by chopping into small similar sized pieces
4) Weigh chocolate on digital scale
5) Measure 1 1/3 cups water and pour into saucepan and heat over low heat to a simmer
6) Place chopped chocolate in the glass bowl.
7) Remove saucepan from heat when simmer is reached. Take temperature of water.
8) Place glass bowl of chocolate over saucepan
9) Start timer
10) Observe melting chocolate, stir lightly with rubber spatula.
11) Record time when chocolate has changed from its original form or melted.
12) Wash and dry glass bowl and spatula. Empty water from saucepan.
13) Repeat steps 3 thru 12 4 times for each type of chocolate.

Diagram

Photo List
I will be taking photos of the chocolate that I will be using before I unwrap it. I will also be taking pictures during the experiment and after the experiment.

Time Line

Start experiments, February 4
Experiments done, March 1
Analysis, March 7
Discussion\Background March, 15
Wiki complete March, 15
Poster's Complete March, 22
KMS Fair March, 29

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Data Table

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Data Analysis

All Raw Data

Temperature of Water 202.5 F 202.5 F 202 F 202.5 F 201.5 F


Time it took to melt Chocolate 3:59.2 4:11.4 4:00.7 3:57.1 4:13.2


Milk Chocolate Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5


OZ of Chocolate 1.4 oz 1.4 oz 1.4 oz 1.4 oz 1.4 oz


Temperature of Water 202 F 202.5 F 202.5 F 202 F 202.5 F


Time it took to melt Chocolate 3:37.4 3:39.8 3:32.8 3:34.0 3:35.5


Dark Chocolate Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5


OZ of Chocolate 1.4 oz 1.4 oz 1.4 oz 1.4 oz 1.4 oz


Temperature of Water 202 F 202.5 F 203 F 203 F 202.5 F


Time it took to melt Chocolate 3:24.2 3:49.4 3:02.9 3:30.6 3:23.7

Graphs

Photos

The Chocolate Bars

The Chocolate being weighed.

The water beginning to boil.

The Chocolate beginning to melt.

The Chocolate completely melted.

Results

In my experiment (Which type of Chocolate melts the fastest.) Dark Chocolate melted the fastest, followed by Milk, then White Chocolate. For each chocolate I did 5 trials, the numbers were all in close range of each other To get the total for each chocolate (in seconds) I had to do the whole number multiplied by 60, then adding the seconds, and milliseconds. For example I will do the Milk Chocolate. The numbers for the 5 different trials were 3:37.4, 3:39.8, 3:32.8, 3:34.0, and 3:35.5. You would first take all of the 3's and them up, them multiply your answer by 60. You would then add 37.4, 39.8, 34.0, and 35.5 together, and that would be your answer in seconds.

Conclusion

Mty hypothesis was correct,I wanted to do this experiment because, I wanted to see what type of chocolate would melt the fastest. (In seconds) Dark Chocolate melted in 1,030.8. Milk

Chocolate melted in 1,079.5. White Chocolate melted in 1,161.6.

Discussion

My hypothesis was that Dark Chocolate would melt the fastest, followed by milk, then white. My hypothesis was correct. Some of the times in my trial were a little off, in each trial when we first put the 1.4 oz bowl of chocolate on the saucepan full of bowling water, I tried to stir it in the begging to try and just get the chocolate moving, I did that for around 7 seconds, for each trial. I then would let the chocolate sit in till it was almost melted, when there were a few chunks of chocolate left I would then stir the chunks, in till, the chocolate was completely melted. At that time I would then stop the timer.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

The benefit to community or science is to see what type of chocolate will the fastest. This can help the community because if they want to know the fastest way to melt chocolate. The fastest type of chocolate to melt was dark chocolate, next was milk chocolate, and then white chocolate.

Background Research

Mr. Biche told me the best way to go at this me experiment was to use a double boiler. I then went on to Google to give me some tips on using the double boiler. I didn't find a specific website, just saw some comments on yahoo.com.

References

Abstract

I first started boiling a certain amount of water in the saucepan. Once when it started boiling I took the water's temperature, for each of the trials I would try and get the water temperature to be around 200, 205 degrees Fahrenheit.When the temperature got around that point I would then take the 1.4 oz of chocolate and place it on the saucepan. Like I stated in my Discussion, I stirred at the begging for around 7 seconds, then I would let the chocolate do its on thing for the rest of the time. When there were only a few chunks left I would stir it around until the chunks were completely melted, when that had happened I would then stop the timer, write down the time and write down any other observations, I would then wash the bowl, put another 1.4 oz's of chocolate in the bowl and boil some more water, I repeated that for every trial.